Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone. I am new here. I found your site and liked it very much. My Mother had canaries and lost interest in them. They were not well cared for and appeared sick. I took them home, 2 males one female. The 3 year old white male is the sick one. Hes puffed up and breathing hard. None of my birds have ever been sick so I went to my bird shop. They are pretty knowledgeable. They told me to use this antibiotic I dont have the box any more but I believe it was euromeycin. White pill in foil, turns the water yellow and to be used for two weeks. I put him on it and diddnt see much difference in a week. I went back to the shop to buy food for my parrot and happened to mention that I havent seen much difference in the canary. He has a good appetite but did not seem to be improving. They told me it sounded like air sac mites and gave me ivermectin to give him. He seems a liitle better now. No more heavy breathing but still sits on his perch and is off & on puffed up. Tonight he peeped for the first time. He was a beautiful singer and breeder.I want to do all I can for him. He gets fresh veggies everyday and is still on the antibiotic.Im to follow up another drop of ivermectin in 8 days. My 11 year old toy poodle is putting us in the poor house with his vet bills. Any suggestions or opinions would be really apperciated. Thanks Diane

Hi Diane,
I'm sorry to hear that your canary is sick. It's hard to say what the problem is without more info, plus I'm not a vet. Is he making a clicking or rasping sound when he breathes? What other symptoms does he have? If it is air sac mites, they are contagious so you would need to treat your other birds too. Yeah, the ivermectin will clear them up, make sure cage is cleaned often also. I'd recommend taking him to a vet to see if it is the mites. Whatever it is, could be contagious and could go through the whole flock. Tell the vet you have other birds at home and he'll may give you meds for all. Do you have an avian vet nearby? Another thing, once these little ones show signs of sickness, they can go down really fast. I hope you get helf for him soon. Please keep us posted
Good luck! and Welcome! We're looking forward to hearing more from you and your birds

Hi, and welcome to the Board! Sorry your little guy feels so bad.

I totally agree with PHXue. Please get your little fellow to the vet immediately for diagnosis and treatment. My vet once told me that birds won't "drink" their medicine. Your experience with the pills in the water bears this out.

I've had canaries with air sac mites and know it's a tough disease to treat. I trust only my avian vet to treat any illness of my birds.

A sick bird needs to see a vet immediately. A day of illness for a bird is comparable to a week of illness for us.

Here's wishing your little guy recovers and his friends don't get sick. Please let us know what the vet says.

>>Hi everyone. I am new here. I found your site and liked it very much. My Mother had canaries and lost interest in them. They were not well cared for and appeared sick. I took them home, 2 males one female. The 3 year old white male is the sick one. Hes puffed up and breathing hard. None of my birds have ever been sick so I went to my bird shop. They are pretty knowledgeable. They told me to use this antibiotic I dont have the box any more but I believe it was euromeycin. White pill in foil, turns the water yellow and to be used for two weeks. I put him on it and diddnt see much difference in a week. I went back to the shop to buy food for my parrot and happened to mention that I havent seen much difference in the canary. He has a good appetite but did not seem to be improving. They told me it sounded like air sac mites and gave me ivermectin to give him. He seems a liitle better now. No more heavy breathing but still sits on his perch and is off & on puffed up. Tonight he peeped for the first time. He was a beautiful singer and breeder.I want to do all I can for him. He gets fresh veggies everyday and is still on the antibiotic.Im to follow up another drop of ivermectin in 8 days. My 11 year old toy poodle is putting us in the poor house with his vet bills. Any suggestions or opinions would be really apperciated. Thanks Diane

-----
PH Canary
Bird Forum Message Board Host

Ive had problems with these in the past, and have not yet found any avian vets, locally anyway, that I have been pleased with -

My vet, that I do trust with basic care of my reptiles, has plain out told me, not to bring my finches or canaries in, and these are basically replaceable birds - Now, im in no way pleased with that, Because I value all my birds, and many of my small softbills and finch are verry difficult, and some expensive to acquire, along with the fact that I will not have my animals recieving substandard care, just because thier "inexpensive" -

Thankfully, knowing alot about pigeon and other "utilaty" bird care, I know alot of bird care and med info myself - You wouldnt believe just how many vets will turn down working on a pet pigeon -, and, none of my vets even knew what air sack mites were -

That still doesnt give me any "authority" on these things, but I Know of something in this case that may be of help - Check out this link -

http://www.ladygouldianfinch.com/features_airsacmites.mgi

Scatt Has worked verry well in the past for me and my birds -

Best of luck -

Raven -